Sydney Sweeney got pulled into the world of politics thanks to her American Eagle jeans campaign, and now a couple of months removed from the controversy, she’s taking a stand.
It was back in July when clothing outfitter American Eagle called upon actress Sydney Sweeney to be a celebrity spokesperson for their jeans. Because the 28-year-old actress is conventionally attractive, the company decided to use a play on words (jeans and genes) to say that Sweeney has good jeans.
Here it is in case you missed it:
Somehow, that blew up into a whole thing where Sweeney was accused of Nazism and labeled as a “MAGA Barbie.”
It’s a absurd stretch if I’ve ever seen one… just like the stretchiness that American Eagle jeans offer (that’s right, I own a couple of pairs of jeans from there myself). All the clothing company was trying to do was a) produce a clever ad and b) use Sydney Sweeney, who seems like she’s in almost everything in the modern era of TV and film, to do so.
And since then, Sweeney has grown tired of being asked about the jean advertisement and her political beliefs.
So much so that, in a recent interview with Cosmopolitan, to celebrate her new lingerie brand SYRN, she put her foot down, saying she will no longer be commenting on politics… and set the record straight by pointing out that she doesn’t feel like she’s ever really gotten political:
“It’s definitely not a comfortable thing to have people saying what you believe or think, especially when that doesn’t align with you. It’s been a weird thing having to navigate and digest, because it’s not me. None of it is me. And I’m having to watch it happen. I’m online and I see things, but I’m slowly pulling myself away. It’s definitely gone to a level where it’s just not healthy for me to digest it all.”
Sydney Sweeney suggests that she’s just here to be an actress, and to entertain people through her profession. She recognizes that part of the political controversy surrounding her has been projected onto her by others. The actress admits that it’s frustrating, but at the end of the day, she wants nothing to do with politics:
“I’ve never been here to talk about politics. I’ve always been here to make art, so this is just not a conversation I want to be at the forefront of. And I think because of that, people want to take it even further and use me as their own pawn. But it’s somebody else assigning something to me, and I can’t control that…
I’m not a political person. I’m in the arts. I’m not here to speak on politics. That’s not an area I’ve ever even imagined getting into. It’s not why I became who I am. I became an actor because I like to tell stories, but I don’t believe in hate in any form. I believe we should all love each other and have respect and understanding for one another.”
Fair enough. Although I can’t help but laugh at the irony of doing a full Cosmo spread right after launching this new brand, and then having to answer a dozen political questions. Few questions about lingerie, couple about her “assets,” and then 10 straight about politics, and a couple more about her love life for good measure. Comical. And then the classic “well, if it’s not true, why don’t you say that” kind of question. But as always, Sydney handles it like a champ:
“There’s no winning. There’s never any winning. I just have to continue being who I am, because I know who I am. I can’t make everyone love me. I know what I stand for.”
Well said.
